Microsoft brings beautiful full-screen Skype app to Windows 8

Microsoft has brought video-calling king Skype to the new Windows 8 OS, which hits stores Friday, and it sure looks pretty.

Skype on Windows 8 offers all the trappings you’d expect from the well-known app but folds them into a modern design. The full-screen app opens up and shows you people you can connect with and recent chat messages. Ideally, this makes the experience simple.

Like previous incarnations, the app will run in the background so you can receive voice and video calls even if you’re inside another app. The app also has a “live tile” on the Windows 8 Start screen that can tell you about missed calls and new messages.

Sponsored by VB

Join us at GrowthBeat where thought leaders from the biggest brands will share winning growth strategies on August 17-18 in San Francisco. Sign up now!

Skype will also be integrated with the Windows 8 People app. The People app is a “cloud-connected address book,” and if you login to Skype with a Microsoft account, all your Skype contacts appear in the People app. Once you do this, you can pin important people to your Windows 8 Start screen and call them via Skype in a click or two.

“The team at Skype has been building on the Windows platform since the first release of Skype,” Skype chief development officer Mark Gillett wrote in a blog post. “With Skype for Windows 8 we’ve focused on how people are using Skype today and re-imagined Skype for everyday communications across our global community.”

Skype for Windows 8 will be available on Windows 8 launch day, Oct. 26. Check out these screenshots and video below to see more views of the new app.